Established as a separate Department from the existing Faculty of Education in 1980, the Department of Foundations of Education (DFE) was purported to provide a window through which the prospective teacher educators could develop their deep understanding in the allied disciplines i.e. Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy apart from research to sustain their inquisitiveness to seek to explore the relevance of these disciplines in the field of Education. Thus, the focus of DFE largely revolved round developing a strong knowledge base that would help the future teacher educators to prepare student teachers in the Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in such a manner that could change the tone and tenor of school education. With this premise, the DFE launched its two maiden programmes; M.Ed. and M.Phil. These programmes were designed keeping a balance between the theories and what exactly was being practised in the field.

However, as per its tradition, the Department always kept itself abreast of time and responded to the major initiatives of the Government. Hence, in view of the recommendations of NPE, 1986 which called for the need of focussing more on elementary education and preparing academic leaders, the Department realised that its restructuring was then need of the hour. Consequent upon which its nomenclature was changed from Department of Foundations of Education to Department of Educational studies in order that it could cater to the future requirements of Teacher Education. Thus, the launching of three programmes; M.Ed. Elementary Education, M. A. Educational Planning and Administration (M.A. EPA) and Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Management (PGDEM) was another feather in its cap. Nonetheless, while doing so, the Department always took its vision into cognizance. Thus, all the programmes still remained research oriented except for PGDEM which has been designed to prepare field workers who could contribute in furthering the cause of education by rendering their services in NGOs or other educational enterprises.

Subsequent upon the recommendations of Justice Verma Committee, the DES lengthened the duration of its prestigious programme; M.Ed. from one to two years incorporating into its course structure a couple of two week internships, one for developing subject based specialisation and another for honing the pedagogic skills among its future teacher educators. Apart from this, the components of academic writing and Self Developments have also been added into the programme structure. Significantly, the Justice Verma Committee stressed the need to include into the M.Ed. programme the specialised papers in Elementary, Secondary and Higher Education, The DES resolved that, in view of the committee’s recommendations, the scope for continuing a separate programme on elementary education did not find any justification. Hence, M.Ed. Elementary Education was merged into existing M.Ed. Programme in the year 2014. Along with this, as per the recommendations of NEP- 2020 and the notification of UGC followed by the endorsement of University’s Executive Council, the M.Phil.Programme was discontinued in the year 2021.

In response to NEP, 2020, which strongly recommended for adopting a holistic approach to school education and promoting research in Higher Education, the Department, which already had specialised programmes across levels except for pre- primary, introduced M.A. Early Childhood Development to make it more viable to the future needs.

Academic Programmes

DES has following programmes to its credentials:

• Ph.D. (Education)
• Master in Education (M.Ed.)
• Master in Educational Planning and Administration (M.A. EPA)
• Master in Early Childhood Development ( M.A. ECD)
• Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Management (PGDEM)

Apart from the above regular programmes, DES proposes to offer the programme on Diploma in Management of Academic Institutions from March 2025 for service personnel in collaboration with Malviya Mission of Teacher Training Centre. Significantly, endorsement for

In view of the mandate of DES, vision, mission and objectives have been formulated in the following manner:

Vision

Developing an ecosystem for promoting leadership quality and futuristic vision among educators, policy makers and educational planners so that education may be effectively used as a tool for making a just and peaceful society

Mission

To prepare visionary professionals and sincere researchers in the area of teacher education and educational management for local, regional, national and global levels

Objectives

• To prepare dedicated, humane and reflective teacher educators, educational management and early childhood development professionals;
• To contribute to the existing knowledge base by preparing educational practitioners, researchers, innovators and transformative leaders;
• To strengthen partnership of the Department with  Teacher Education Institutions and community;
• To contribute to the society by conducting and disseminating meaningful research;
• To provide guidance to different policy making and implementation agencies for bringing innovations and giving viable inputs to improve teacher education across levels.